POV: iChowdown (Mr. Dumb EP3)
Swain Valasek | Oct 24, 2009 Games, POV
User rating: 
(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
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* “POV” (Point of View) is a new feature that we’re testing out *
Zenux Lab’s rating: 8.0
IAR’s rating: 6.0
iChowdown from Zenux Lab is the third effort in the Mr. Dumb Series, all games of which feature the same hand-drawn art style, characters, and purposely low-brow humor. Worth noting that EP1 was reviewed by me here and EP2 is somewhat stillborn, likely in ‘Apple approval process limbo’. EP1 turned out to be a rather charming game so let’s see what the developer has to say about EP3 and I’ll provide the IAR point of view afterwards to see how iChowdown stacks up.
Zenux Lab’s summary:
What iChowdown is about:
Simple Funny game. You can joy the touch feeling with this game.
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What this app does right:
Have you seen the “ChowDown Campion”? You can be a chowdown campion in this game.
Mr. Dumb visits a local restaurant. He is so hungry and can eat anything!
Fortunately, the restaurant has a special promotion and he can eat as much as he wants at a very low price.
Now, the question is how much this greedy Mr. Dumb can fill his empty tummy with food… Watch out!
If you force him eat too much, he may throw up the half-digested food before you!
Mr. Dumb visits a local restaurant. He is so hungry and can eat anything!
Fortunately, the restaurant has a special promotion and he can eat as much as he wants at a very low price.
Now, the question is how much this greedy Mr. Dumb can fill his empty tummy with food… Watch out!
If you force him eat too much, he may throw up the half-digested food before you!
Features
- Very funny, ugly dumb characters
- Hundreds of Different Foods From All Around the World (US, Asia, Europe).
- Realistic sounds and vivid graphics
- Exciting Mini games
- Music on/off option
- Tutorial provided
- Very funny, ugly dumb characters
- Hundreds of Different Foods From All Around the World (US, Asia, Europe).
- Realistic sounds and vivid graphics
- Exciting Mini games
- Music on/off option
- Tutorial provided
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Where this app needs to improve:
More mini-games.
Features and improvements planned for the future:
- More food choice will be added
- More mini games will be added
- Dual Combat mode (Eating contest with your friend) will be added
IAR’s take:
Mr. Dumb and his friends are back and this time they’ve stumbled into a cheesy buffet restaurant in Somewhere USA where it’s all you can eat, cheap. Stuff Mr. Dumb’s face through a series of mini-games and go on a world tour, conquering lousy buffets across the globe! Basically you start with just a few foods but as you complete ‘missions’ you accrue bonus points with which to buy new foods and this is the only way to complete the deeper levels of the game. As mentioned, the game is really a timed series of mini-games:
- Chewing – drag up to open Mr. Dumb’s mouth, drop in some food and swipe up/down to chew. A sub-mini-game occurs when spicy foods are eaten and you have to put out little fires in his mouth with a touch.
- Swallowing – once your food is sufficiently broken down into slimy bits, trace several patterns in succession to allow Mr. Dumb to swallow which is the only way to gain hunger points towards completion of a mission
- Gagging – too much food for sure but some foods just in general tend to cause Mr. Dumb to gag, in which case you have to swipe/push the icky bits towards the center of his gullet to restore masticular function. If you swipe too madly here he pukes it all up and you score no points. A sub-mini-game occurs when Mr. Dumb passes out after recovering from the gagging and you have to swipe left/right repeatedly to slap him silly until he recovers.
- Drinking – sometimes Mr. Dumb needs to drink soda after swallowing so this mini-game consists of popping numbered carbonation bubbles in descending order.
The strategy element comes into play in the foods you choose to eat and how many at a time before going for a swallow (gagging sucks up very precious time). Also very important to note you can go back and replay any prior mission to attempt to achieve bonus points above and beyond as each mission includes 3 ‘challenges’ such as eating 3 or more hamburgers. On a total tangent, one thing about the game struck me as odd which is that you’re in a lowdown buffet but to order food you go into what looks like a household kitchen with a chef (?) to order food. Seems like it would have been more consistent with the theme to show a chow line with all available foods, just like a real greasy buffet joint. Anywho…
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The game does indeed do a number of things right. The graphics, sounds, music and animation are all really good and consistent with the series. The cretinous humor is funny no matter how smart you are and stuffing an entire roast turkey (or 2) into Mr. Dumb’s mouth is just plain entertaining. I will say that, in a big change from EP1, the presentation here is more on the gross side with graphic depictions of slobbery food-chewing and vomiting. Didn’t bother me at all but if you’re sensitive to such things check the video below before you make any decisions. I take a minor exception to the claim of hundreds of foods as even though I wasn’t able to get through the whole game for the review that still seems a very generous claim as I see more like 19. I wouldn’t call the mini-games exciting though they are inventive, creative and entertaining.
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Improvements in my book would go beyond the addition of more mini-games, food choices and the combat mode (though all of those are very worthy of course).
- minor and doesn’t detract from the game but a little spell/grammar check (especially in the tutorial) of the game text would be good
- strange bug I couldn’t reproduce but ran into several times where Mr. Dumb’s mouth just wouldn’t open and several critical seconds were lost madly swiping and tapping until finally his maw opened up.
- gagging mini-game is just too frustrating (and hard on the index finger) and if I had to point a finger at 1 major turn-off in the game this is it. I would love to see this toned down a little or provide some kind of powerup(s) in the game, for example to reduce or provide temporary pardon from the gag reflex.
- better sense of which foods do what aka which are spicy and how many hunger points each are worth. As it is right now it’s understood that you need to upgrade to new foods asap but you don’t really get a sense of why or when to choose 1 food over another.
Overall this effort falls short of the little gem that EP1 turned out to be in terms of charm and addictiveness but it’s not for lack of care and attention to detail in its creation (of which there is plenty). It’s silly, goofy, creatively moronic and slightly insane alright but I found my interest level quickly decline after completing the USA missions (though this is primarily due to the gagging mini-game so who knows, my opinion could change drastically should that be addressed).
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A few of you are in luck; head down to the comments section to pick up a few promo codes the developer was kind enough to supply!
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* POV is sponsored by the developer
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- Nicely drawn comic-book style intro
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- You get interesting info about the foods in real life, a nice touch!
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- Mission goals plus challenges for extra bonus points
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- Order away, time's a wastin'
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- Bleh, nothing like reachin' into that maw to shuffle chewed food around!
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- Out cold after a particularly intense gagging, slap him again!
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- Gulllppp...well, after you finish the mini-game that is
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- Ya baby, an entire roast turkey, suck it down!
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- Chart your buffet-hopping adventure across the globe
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- Yep, I lose
Tags: $1.99, casual, Swain Valasek
(3.92 out of 5)